LabView 8

The introduction of LabView 8 coincides with the 20th anniversary of LabView, a popular integrated, design, control and test platform for design engineers. John Pasquarette, NI's director of software marketing, explains that the majority of new features were inspired directly from the users themselves. "Our customers take LabView and use it in ways that we have never even considered, then it's up to us to catch up and build features into the product that make their lives easier," he says. One of the most noteworthy features in LabView 8 is its new distributed intelligence capabilities, which now permit engineers to design, distribute and synchronize a host of distributed devices and systems ranging from embedded processors to DSPs. Pasquarette points out that this capability, in development starting in 2001, is not merely a new feature, "but an infrastructure that will be built upon for many versions to come." LabView 8 also includes a new project feature that engineers will find useful for managing large-scale development projects. Giving the user a system-level view of an application, it allows engineers to organize an entire system from their code to the drivers, documentation and hardware.
A new driver finder is targeted at both novices, as well as the advanced measurement engineers who may still be working in a pencil-and-paper mode. The new feature allows a user to find a driver on his system or NI's website and also create his own instrument driver if desired. LabView 8 is sold in many different configurations. The base price for a full development system is $2,395. For more information, go to http://rbi.ims.ca/4917-634.View larger product image

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